1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a magnetic head slider including a thin film magnetic head device for recording or reproducing information on/from a recording medium such as a hard disk, a method of fixing row bars in order to process the magnetic head slider, and a curing agent used to promote setting of an adhesive used for fixing the row bars, or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a magnetic recording apparatus such as a hard disk drive, a thin film magnetic head device for recording or reproducing magnetic information is mounted on a magnetic head slider disposed so as to face a recording surface of a recording medium.
The magnetic head slider is manufactured through the following steps as proposed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Hei 10-228617, for example.
First, many thin film magnetic head devices are formed by thin film process on a wafer made of a ceramic material, for example. (Subsequently, the wafer is cut into a plurality of row bars, each of which includes at least one magnetic head slider, by using a dicing saw or the like. (The surface of each of the plurality of row bars thus obtained are polished, and then slider rails each having a predetermined shape are formed by etching process using photolithography, or the like. Each row bar in which the slider rails are formed is further cut into separate magnetic head sliders.
The slider rails are formed by processing where the plurality of row bars are bonded and fixed to a predetermined support substrate. It is desirable to reuse the support substrate as often as possible in order to reduce the cost of manufacturing the magnetic head slider. For this purpose, it is necessary to prevent the support substrate from being damaged at the time of the processing (such as etching process) of the slider rails. In some cases, at the time of processing the slider rails, atoms of the surface of the support substrate sputter in association with the etching process or the like and are adhered to a surface to be processed or side faces of a row bar. It is known that such adhesion causes trouble in a hard disk drive. It is therefore desired that such foreign matter is not adhered to the row bars.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Hei 11-110727 discloses a method of placing row bars with their surfaces opposite to the surfaces to be processed onto a support substrate, forming a polyimide film so as to cover the surface of the support substrate and the whole row bars, and removing only the polyimide film covering the surface to be processed of each of the row bars. According to the method, the surface of the support substrate is covered with the polyimide film, so that the support substrate can be prevented from being damaged at the time of processing the row bars. Since the atoms of the surface of the support substrate do not sputter, the atoms are not adhered to the surface to be processed or side faces of each row bar.
In the method disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-110727, however, since it is technically difficult to completely remove the polyimide film covering the surface to be processed of each row bar, a part of the polyimide film remains on the surface to be processed. It causes a problem such that, due to the residual polyimide film, it is difficult to accurately form the slider rail by processing.
In Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. Hei 11-96531 and Hei 10-302237, a method of covering the surfaces except for the surface to be processed of a row bar with a polyimide film or the like in order to prevent adhesion of a foreign matter to the row bar is proposed. According to the method, since atoms sputtered from the surface of the support substrate which occur in etching process or the like are adhered to the polyimide film, by removing the polyimide film after completion of the processing, the atoms can be easily removed. The publications, however, do not disclose a method of preventing the support substrate itself from being damaged.
The applicant of the present invention has proposed a method of bonding and fixing the surface opposite to the surface to be processed of each of a plurality of row bars to a support substrate while aligning the surfaces to be processed of the row bars to a predetermined reference plane in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Hei 11-282959. According to the fixing method, the plurality of row bars can be held in a state where their surfaces to be processed are positioned within a predetermined reference plane, so that improved processing accuracy is achieved. Although it is desirable to set an adhesive for fixing the row bars as soon as possible in such a fixing method, a method of setting the adhesive in short time has not been fully examined yet.
The present invention has been achieved in consideration of the problems. It is an object of the invention to provide a method of manufacturing a magnetic head slider and a method of fixing row bars, which can realize improved processing accuracy at low manufacturing costs and can prevent adhesion of a foreign matter to the magnetic head slider, and to provide a method of manufacturing a magnetic head slider, a method of fixing row bars and a curing agent, which can make an adhesive for fixing row bars set in short time.
A method of fixing a plurality of row bars according to the invention comprises: a protective film forming step of forming a protective film for protecting a support member, on at least one entire surface of the support member; an adhesive applying step of applying an adhesive on the surface of the protective film; and a bonding step of bonding and fixing the row bars to the support member with making a surface opposite to the surface to be processed of each of the plurality of row bars come into contact with the adhesive.
In the method of fixing row bars according to the invention, a protective film is formed on at least one entire surface of the support member, an adhesive is applied on the surface of the protective film, and a surface opposite to the surface to be processed of each of row bars is attached to the adhesive. The surface to which the row bar is fixed of the support member is covered with the protective film and is protected from damage during processing of the row bar.
It is desirable that the protective film is formed by conducting a heat treatment on a polyimide precursor at predetermined temperature. Further, the temperature of the heat treatment conducted on the polyimide precursor lies, desirably, in a range form 100xc2x0 C. to 150xc2x0 C.
Preferably, the method further comprises a curing agent film forming step of forming a curing agent film containing a curing agent which promotes setting of the adhesive, on the surface of the protective film, between the protective film forming step and the adhesive applying step.
Another method of fixing row bars according to the invention comprises: a curing agent film forming step of forming a curing agent film containing a curing agent for promoting setting of the adhesive, on at least one of surfaces of the support member; an adhesive applying step of applying an adhesive on the surface of the curing agent film; and a bonding step of bonding and fixing the row bars to the support member with making a surface opposite to the surface to be processed of each of the plurality of row bars come into contact with the adhesive.
In the another method of fixing row bars according to the invention, a curing agent film is formed on at least one of surfaces of the support member, an adhesive is applied on the surface of the curing agent film, and a surface opposite to the surface to be processed of each of the row bars is attached to the adhesive. Since the adhesive and the curing agent film come into contact with each other, time required to set the adhesive is shortened by the action of the curing agent.
Preferably, in the bonding step, in a state where the surface to be processed of each of the row bars is in line with a predetermined reference plane, the surface opposite to the surface to be processed is allowed to come into contact with the adhesive. Preferably, the curing agent film contains an acid mordant dye. Further, the adhesive is, preferably, a cyanoacrylate adhesive.
A method of manufacturing a magnetic head slider according to the invention comprises: a device forming step of forming thin film magnetic head devices on a predetermined substrate; a cutting step of cutting the substrate into a plurality of row bars each including at least one magnetic head slider in which the thin film magnetic head device is formed; a protective film forming step of forming a protective film for protecting a support member, on at least one entire surface of the predetermined support member; an adhesive applying step of applying an adhesive on the surface of the protective film; a bonding step of bonding and fixing the row bars to the support member with making a surface opposite to the surface to be processed of each of the plurality of row bars come into contact with the adhesive; a processing step of performing predetermined processing on the plurality of row bars fixed to the support member in the bonding step; and a separating step of cutting each of the row bars on which the predetermined processing has been performed in the processing step into magnetic head sliders.
In the method of manufacturing a magnetic head slider according to the invention, the wafer is cut into a plurality of row bars each including at least one magnetic head slider. A protective film is formed on at least one of surfaces of the predetermined support member, an adhesive is applied on the surface of the protective film, and a surface opposite to the surface to be processed of each of the plurality of row bars is fixed to the adhesive. Each of the plurality of row bars fixed to the support member is subjected to predetermined processing and is cut into magnetic head sliders. The surface to which the row bar is fixed of the support member is covered with the protective film and is protected from damage at the time of processing of the row bars.
A method of manufacturing a magnetic head slider according to the invention comprises: a device forming step of forming thin film magnetic head devices on a predetermined substrate; a cutting step of cutting the substrate into a plurality of row bars each including at least one magnetic head slider in which the thin film magnetic head device is formed; a curing agent film forming step of forming a curing agent film containing a curing agent for promoting setting of the adhesive, on at least one of surfaces of a predetermined support member; an adhesive applying step of applying the adhesive on the surface of the curing agent film; a bonding step of bonding and fixing the row bars to the support member with making a surface opposite to the surface to be processed of each of the plurality of row bars come into contact with the adhesive; a processing step of performing predetermined processing on the plurality of row bars fixed to the support member in the bonding step; and a separating step of cutting each of the row bars subjected to the predetermined processing in the processing step into magnetic head sliders.
In the method of manufacturing a magnetic head slider according to the invention, the wafer is cut into a plurality of row bars each including at least one magnetic head slider. Further, a curing agent film is formed on at least one of surfaces of a support substrate, the adhesive is applied on the surface of the curing agent film, and the surface opposite to the surface to be processed of each of the plurality of row bars is fixed to the adhesive. Each of the plurality of row bars fixed to the support member is subjected to predetermined processing and is cut into magnetic head sliders. Since the adhesive comes into contact with the curing agent film, the time required to set the adhesive is shortened by the action of the curing agent.
A curing agent according to the invention is to promote setting of a resin containing alkyl-xcex1-cyanoacrylate.
In the curing agent according to the invention, polymerization of alkyl-xcex1-cyanoacrylate is initiated by an anion supplied from the acid mordant dye and sets promptly.
Other and further objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear more fully from the following description.